Amazon stands by chief executive

Amazon has defended its chief executive against allegations of misconduct after he unloaded £8m in company stocks earlier this year.

The online retailer says it is confident regulators will rule that Jeff Bezos has behaved properly.

The Securities and Exchange commission refused to comment on whether Mr Bezos will be investigated for selling the shares days before the publication of a report questioning Amazon's performance.

In two separate trades in early February Bezos sold 800,000 shares of Amazon stock.

The trades came just days ahead of the public release of a Lehman Brothers report titled "Revisiting Amazon's Liquidity."

Company chiefs claim that while the report did scrutinize Amazon's cash flow, it was based on old, already-public information about the company.

Under Amazon's internal rules governing stock trading, executives who have access to non-public information must make their trades soon after the company issues its quarterly reports.

A spokesman for Amazon:"We're confident that there is no cause for any kind of action."

Amazon has said it will co-operate with any SEC investigation.